Power take-off devices are ubiquitously employed throughout the trucking industry to power auxiliary devices. For example, power take-off devices are often used to provide power to hydraulic pumps which in turn provide hydraulic fluid to cylinders which perform auxiliary operations associated with the vehicle (e.g. raise and lower a dump bed, operate a garbage compactor and the like).
In a certain situations, power take-off devices are not employed. Rather, the hydraulic pump (or other auxiliary device) is directly driven by the crankshaft of the vehicle's engine. More specifically, a driveshaft assembly is employed to connect the input shaft of the hydraulic pump to the crank shaft of the engine, thereby providing power to the hydraulic pump as the engine is operated. This type of arrangement generally requires that the hydraulic pump be placed at the front end of the vehicle. This creates one or a combination of problems. For example, when mounted in this front location, the front bumper of the vehicle oftentimes must be extended to accommodate the usually large pumps. Further, the radiators in such equipped vehicles frequently need to be cored or relocated to accommodate the mounting position of the hydraulic pump, a practice which may soon be prohibited by a new Enviromental Protection Agency emissions law taking effect in the year 2002. In particular, this can result in restricted or reduced airflow to the radiator.
Other problems arise in equipping motor vehicles with hydraulic pumps because certain hydraulic pumps are of such a design that it is not possible to directly mount them to a standard power take-off device. For example, hydraulic pumps used in certain applications must be so large or heavy as to frustrate the plausibility of directly mounting them to a standard power take-off device because to do so would impart too much stress on the mounting areas. In other instances the large size of the hydraulic pump prohibits it from fitting into the envelope (space) that would otherwise be conveniently available for its use.
In view of the above, it is apparent that there exists a need in the art for an extended shaft capable of operably coupling to a power take-off device and an auxiliary device which overcomes the above drawbacks. It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill this need in the art, as well as other needs which will become apparent to the skilled artisan once given the following disclosure.